Mirror universe
The "Mirror Universe" is an informal name for a parallel universe first visited by James T. Kirk and several officers from the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]] in 2267. The universe was so named because many people and places seemed to be the exact opposites of their "normal" selves in this universe. History Because of the intermittent nature of contact with the Mirror Universe, we have no knowledge of how "their" history and timeline compares to "ours." It has never been discovered if this is some kind of alternate timeline that could possibly have diverged from our own in some manner, or if the two universes share a deeper connection that makes them move in opposite to each other while still maintaining a persistent series of crossovers and transferences. Whether or not the two universes were divergent or not, they seem tied and inverted. Most individuals have analogues, but social status and whether people are good or evil by our ethics are mostly but not perfectly reversed. The effect is like taking a picture of our universe and taking the negative, flipping it horizontally, and partially melting it so that it becomes extremely distorted. Although very different from our universe, most new people born in one universe have new analogues born in the other universe, showing that some tie must exist between the universes. :Our universe has infinite parallel universes such as Worf visited in (TNG: "Parallels"), however the Mirror Universe appears to one that is closely tied to our own, to the point that many persons from our reality have a counterpart alternate version there. In this universe, first contact between Vulcans and Terrans took place as it did in our universe. However once the Vulcans landed and made their peaceful introduction, instead of welcoming them with open arms, Zefram Cochrane shot the first Vulcan to step onto Terran soil and the Terrans proceeded to raid the Vulcan ship. The Vulcan vessel was interpreted to by them to be the vanguard of an invasion. The shotgun used by Zefram Cochrane later would come into the possession of Jonathan Archer, who wondered what would have happened had Cochrane not "turned the tables on Vulcans' invasion force." With advanced Vulcan technology now at their disposal, the Terrans were able to expand their empire and conquer other world, including Vulcan. In 2155, the [[ISS Enterprise (NX-01)|ISS Enterprise (NX-01)]], under the command of Captain Maxwell Forrest was the flagship of the Terran Empire's Starfleet. In January of that year, Commander Jonathan Archer mutinied against Forrest in order to take the ship into Tholian space to capture the [[USS Defiant (NCC-1764)|USS Defiant (NCC-1764)]] from our universe. While the mutiny would ultimately be unsuccessful, Captain Forrest had no choice but to continue the mission, since the ship's helm had been locked on auto-pilot. The Enterprise was later destroyed by Tholian ships, but not before Archer was able to take control of the Defiant. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly") By 2267, the Terran Empire was the dominant power in the Alpha Quadrant. When four Starfleet officers from the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]] were exchanged with those same officers from the [[ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)]] in the Mirror Universe because of transporter interference from an ion storm, they discovered a brutal regime, almost dictatorial in its command structure. Advancement through assassination was a commonplace event. ]] During the encounter, Captain James T. Kirk was able to convince the counterpart of his first officer, Spock, that the Empire could not sustain itself. Indeed, this Spock predicted that in its current form, the Empire had a century before total collapse. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror") Following this crossover, the forces of the Mirror Universe began implementing safeguards to prevent another such event. Transporter design was altered to prevent interdimensional travel - requiring the creation of devices specifically for that purpose. In the event of another crossover, those involved would be killed to prevent further interference. Sometime between 2267 and 2370, Spock rose to become leader of the Terran Empire, proposing a series of reforms designed to make the Empire more secure and less dictatorial in nature. These included a significant disarmament program. Unfortunately, once these reforms were complete, the Empire was unable to defend itself against the equally aggressive and powerful forces surrounding it. The Klingon-Cardassian Alliance overran the Empire, leaving humans and Vulcans enslaved, and freeing several worlds that still remained under Terran occupation, including Bajor. Bajor soon joined the Alliance, and the command post/ore processing facility Terok Nor was constructed in orbit. By 2370, Terok Nor was commanded by Intendant Kira Nerys, with Elim Garak as her second-in-command. It was at this point in time that the second contact with our universe took place. A runabout from station Deep Space Nine entered the Mirror Universe following an incident in the Bajoran wormhole. Kira Nerys and Julian Bashir were captured by forces from Terok Nor, and interrogated by the Intendant. Bashir was sent to work in the ore processing plant, where he befriended "Smiley" O'Brien. After instigating a series of incidents aboard the station, Kira and Bashir were able to convince privateer Benjamin Sisko to rebel against the Alliance, and allow them to escape back to our universe. (DS9: "Crossover") Apocrypha Any possible "point of divergence" from the traditional Star Trek universe is not confirmed, though there have been different non-canon explanations. According to the FASA role-playing games, the mirror universe diverges from our own timeline around the Eugenics Wars, while DC Comics' The Mirror Universe Saga comics speculate the Earth-Romulan War was the point of divergence. Still other non-canon works, the novels of William Shatner (co-written with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens) and the [[Star Trek: First Contact (novel)|novelization of Star Trek: First Contact]] seem to indicate the time travel of the Borg to Zefram Cochrane's era might be responsible. Episode writers maintain that the mirror universe is not simply an alternate timeline, but instead a parallel universe where the patterns of events move in similar manners, but the intentions and characterizations are different, so the people of the mirror side will always remain (and always have been) skewed versions of their "normal" counterparts, so no true point of divergence can be traced, as the two realms move in a parallel manner. Dark Mirror, a Pocket TNG novel by Diane Duane, places the mirror universe as parallel since at least the end of Homer's Iliad, where the mirror universe Achilles kills old King Priam instead of showing one moment of humanity. After this there seems to be some sort of "moral inversion". For instance, according to Plato the perfect government is now one in which fear is meted out to the people in proper proportion by a wise ruler. Picard notes that the ending of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" is drastically different: Shylock is awarded, and accepts, the owed pound of flesh. This universe is inconsistent with the others in that it was written before the DS9 mirror episodes, and references the Terran Empire as still being active in 2367. The possibility of divergent mirror universes has also been considered by fans -- to explain costume and effects inconsistencies in the structure of the mirror universe. In "Through the Looking Glass", we saw Alliance ships de-cloaking, and in "The Emperor's New Cloak" the Alliance didn't have a cloaking device. In "Mirror, Mirror", when Kirk enters the turbo-lift with mirror-Chekov, the younger officer is seen wearing a gold sash, but when they're actually in the lift the sash is absent. When they leave the lift and Kirk gets ambushed, the sash is back! The mirror universe made an appearance in Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, a video game released for the PC. Voyager, having been pulled into a starship scrapyard, encounters hostile humans working with various aliens, including Malons, Klingons and Hirogen. These human "scavengers" are from the mirror universe and operate from a station made up of the remains of a mirror universe ''Constitution''-class starship, among other things. The mirror universe also features prominently in Star Trek: Shattered Universe, a video game released on PS2 and XBox. It depicts an Empire Starfleet of the 2290s, and a crossover to the adventures of Captain Sulu on the ISS Excelsior. References * ENT: ** "In a Mirror, Darkly" ** "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II" * TOS: "Mirror, Mirror" * DS9: ** "Crossover" ** "Through the Looking Glass" ** "Shattered Mirror" ** "Resurrection" ** "The Emperor's New Cloak" * Non-canon: ** DC TOS volume 1: The Mirror Universe Saga ** The Best of Trek #14 **''Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force'' Related topics * Mirror universe history * Mirror universe people * Terran Empire * [[ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)]] * [[ISS Enterprise (NX-01)|ISS Enterprise (NX-01)]] * Terok Nor (mirror) * Theta Mirror universe